Scott Medlock

Scott joined Edwards Law after practicing for eight years with the Texas Civil Rights Project. At TCRP, Scott represented prisoners and their families in a wide variety of complex civil rights lawsuits in state and federal court.

Scott built TCRP’s prisoners’ rights program from the ground up, going from being the sole attorney to supervising a practice group with three lawyers, a legal assistant, and numerous law students and undergraduate interns. In very difficult cases, Scott recovered millions of dollars for inmates and their families, and forced county jails, juvenile prisons, and the state prison system to make important policy changes to protect prisoners’ rights. He also protected the rights of non-violent demonstrators, and citizen groups denied public information.

Scott became one of the nation’s leading voices for prisoners, and has been quoted by publications including:
the New York Times (Two Lawsuits Challenge the Lack of Air Conditioning in Texas Prisons),
Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/23/william-chance-texas-inmate-native-american-parents-hair_n_4151274.html ), and
Texas Tribune (http://www.texastribune.org/2013/08/16/cooling-tdcj-swine-units-dismays-inmate-/ ).

Scott has also had op-ed pieces published in the Houston Chronicle (http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Texas-can-curb-prison-sex-assaults-1587782.php ), and will be a regular contributor to the Texas Tribune. He has presented at continuing legal education seminars for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer Association, and the State Bar of Texas Individual Rights Section.

As TCRP’s pro bono coordinator, Scott engaged attorneys at major law firms to provide thousands of hours of free legal services to low-income Texans whose civil rights had been violated. Under Scott’s direction, the pro bono program protected Texans from warrantless searches, extreme temperatures in prisons, retaliation for exercising their free speech rights, violations of religious liberties, and the rights of people with disabilities.

Scott is the youngest recipient of the prestigious J. Chrys Dougherty Legal Services award, given annually by the State Bar of Texas to an outstanding legal services program staff attorney. He was named a Legal Leader on the Rise in 2013 by The Texas Lawyer.

Scott believes in the importance of pro bono work and community service, and is engaged in helping the Austin community. He continues to work with the Texas Civil Rights Project by serving on the Project’s pro bono advisory panel, the Board of Councilors. He also serves as a member of the Texas State University Institutional Review Board to review the ethics of potential research studies involving prisoners. Scott works to protect people from gun violence with the Austin chapter of Moms Demand Action, and has represented the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence as local counsel in suits filed in Texas. And working with his wife, Alisha, Scott helped employees of the Austin-area domestic violence shelter, SafePlace, obtain basic wills and estates documents.

A native of Denver, Colorado, Scott is a graduate cum laude of Northwestern University, and with honors of the University of Texas School of Law.

Scott and Alisha live in Austin, and enjoy spending time hiking in the mountains of Colorado with his parents, reading, and playing with their dogs, Rosie and Maya.